Yahoo Japan to Sell Genetic Test

The Internet company will market a test for disease-associated DNA variants.

November 2, 2012

Starting next month, Yahoo Japan will begin selling a disease-focused genetic testing kit directly to consumers. For 29,800 yen, around $370, customers can order the GeneLife2012 test kit, which will search for genetic variants associated with the risk of developing diseases such as diabetes, stroke, and heart disease, according to a press release.

Customers will ship off some spit for analysis, which will be handled by another Tokyo-based company, Genesis Health Care. The company will look for disease-assocated changes in 68 genes.

According to the Japan Times, Yahoo Japan will play only a marketing role and will not handle any data from the medical tests. But, if I am interpreting Google Translation’s interpretation of the press release correctly, it seems the Tokyo-based Internet giant is looking to expand its role as a source for health-care information and potentially its presence in the growing trend for individuals to monitor their own health. The company says the GeneLife2012 test will help prevent or slow diseases by alerting customers to the need for lifestyle changes through diet, exercise, and stress management.

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I’m the biomedicine editor for MIT Technology Review. I look for stories where technology stands to improve human health or advance our understanding of the human condition.

I joined MIT Technology Review in March 2012 after… More a brief stint in the Washington, D.C., news bureau of the scientific journal Nature. Before I ventured to the East Coast, I spent several years in the San Francisco Bay Area as a doctoral student in molecular biology and one whirlwind year in science-writing boot camp in Santa Cruz.

In California, I wrote for the Stanford University press offices, the Multiple Sclerosis Discovery Forum, and the Salinas Californian newspaper. I grew up in a small town in eastern Texas, surrounded by bird song, rolling cattle fields, and lanky pine trees. When I’m not exploring health tech, you will probably find me cooking or giggling over an exceptional LOLcat.